Blues give Thrashers fifth exhibition loss

St. Louis center Andy McDonald finished the preseason with an NHL-best 13 points, scoring his fourth goal and adding an assist to help the Blues beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 on Saturday night.

Lee Stempniak had three assists and Brad Boyes added one, giving McDonald's line 35 points in its five preseason games. Stempniak finished with 12 points and Boyes 10, each scoring five goals.

St. Louis was 4-2-1 in the preseason and Atlanta 1-5-0. The Thrashers were outscored 29-14 and lost their last five games.

The Blues held Atlanta without a shot for the first nine minutes and took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Roman Polak and McDonald. Polak beat goalie Kari Lehtonen on a slap shot with 3:20 left and McDonald blasted a shot by the Atlanta goalie on a power-play rush with 1:08 remaining.

Paul Kariya scored with a two-man advantage at 8:20 of the second period to make it 3-0.

SATURDAY'S EXHIBITIONS

DEVILS 4, FLYERS 3: Brian Rolston and David Clarkson scored power-play goals in the second period for the New Jersey Devils (4-2-1), who finished their preseason schedule with a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers (4-4).

WILD 3, CANADIENS 0: Niklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots and Stephane Veilleux had a goal and an assist in the Minnesota Wild's (5-2-0) win over the Montreal Canadiens (6-3) in the final NHL preseason game for both teams.

ISLANDERS 3, BRUINS 1: Jonathan Sim tipped home a shot by defenseman Thomas Pock with 6:01 left, lifting the New York Islanders (4-2) to victory over the Boston Bruins (4-2-1) in a preseason game.

RED WINGS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3: Dan Cleary scored his second goal of the game early in the third period to help the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings (5-1-2) beat the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-5-1) in exhibition play.